Just ask a rookie left-hander with the New Brunswick senior league’s Saint John Alpines, who is in the midst of one of the most unique and fulfilling seasons of his diamond days.
Haden Dow was finishing up a three-year pitching career with the NCAA Division 1 Southeast Missouri University Redhawks this spring when he considered a chance to join the Savannah Bananas, an independent professional baseball club that combines incredible skill and joy as it barnstorms across the United States.
“A former teammate of mine at Southeast Missouri, Noah Niznik, he’s kind of the main pitcher with them, and he mentioned that there may be an opportunity to join the Savannah Bananas,” said the 24-year-old Saint John native, who graduated with an agribusiness: animal science degree from SMU.
“But with the (work) visa situation in the United States, that didn’t come together.”
Haden Dow shows off his gold medal from the 2025 Baseball Canada senior championship in Regina, Sask. Photo by SUBMITTED
In his senior year with Southeast Missouri, Dow achieved top 100 NCAA rankings in four pitching categories. He allowed only 0.97 walks plus hits per innings pitched, the 12th best in Division 1. He also ranked 24th in fewest walks allowed, 38th in strikeouts to walks ratio, and 68th in fewest hits allowed per nine innings.
What Dow describes as the “best pitching year of my life” garnered interest from pro teams from both the Major League Baseball-affiliated Pioneer and Frontier leagues. However, visa issues again got in the way.
With that avenue closed, at least temporarily, Dow returned to Saint John, where he continued the best pitching year of his life. The result?
He was named the New Brunswick Senior Baseball League rookie of the year, pitcher of the year, all-star, and most valuable player. He also led the league in strikeouts, inducing 80 whiffs in 48 and two-thirds innings.
In addition, Dow hit .405, despite not having made a plate appearance in a game in six years.
“It’s been good,” Dow said understatedly from Edmonton, where he’s visiting family. “Coming off a college career, playing at the Division 1 level, it was a little bit expected that I would come home and have some success.
“I was hoping to hit around .300 and I hit just over .400, including a grand slam (home run),” he said, with a laugh. “Now I can brag a little bit to the boys back at school, I didn’t hit for so long, and I hit a grand slam. That’s kind of a fun highlight of the summer.”
Add becoming a national champion to the list of highlights.
The Alpines’ ace was added to the Charlottetown Islanders roster for the 2025 Baseball Canada Senior Championship in Regina. But just getting to Regina was a bit of a miracle, he said.
With Air Canada in the midst of a work stoppage, Islanders management scrambled to find ways to get the team to the Saskatchewan capital, splitting the team up into three travel paths.
Dow and two teammates, Fredericton Royals’ Max Grant and Colby Lyle, drove to Boston the day before the tournament was to begin. From there, they flew to Cincinnati, then on to Minneapolis, and finally landed in Saskatoon. The team then drove 250 kilometres to Regina, arriving at the hotel less than 11 hours before its opening game against Ontario.
Left-hander Haden Dow delivers a pitch during his 2025 New Brunswick Senior Baseball League MVP season with the Saint John Alpines. Photo by SEAN ROWE
“Nationals was a wild experience and will forever be a cool story,” said Dow, who had the unenviable task of starting Game 1 on Aug. 21 with little rest.
“I did not feel 100 per cent. That’s for sure,” he said. “I didn’t have much of a fastball with all the travel and not having thrown much in the days leading up to the tournament.
“Luckily, the way their lineup (Ontario) wanted to swing it, the slider was a good pitch to attack them with. … I wasn’t fully behind the fastball and did not have great command of it that day. But I threw well enough that game to get a win.”
Next, Dow found himself on the mound in the semifinal versus the host Regina Trappers on Aug. 24. Not having his best fastball three days earlier proved to be a blessing in disguise for the lefty. Knowing that the host team had watched his first start, Dow changed tactics.
“I talked with our catcher before the game and said, ‘They might be sitting on the slider because they saw me throw it a lot in game one, so let’s attack them with heaters,’ and that was kind of our game plan.”
The result? A 76-pitch, four-strikeout, complete game shutout of the home province, 4-0.
Earlier in the year, Dow had thrown a complete game 9-0 shutout with nine strikeouts to earn Ohio Valley Conference pitcher of the week honours while with Southeast Missouri. He ranks that and his win versus Saskatchewan as among the top mound performances of his career.
“Once we got the four-run lead, I knew I was going to finish that game and they weren’t scoring four on me,” said Dow, who went to the team hotel following the win, showered, ate, and returned to the field to prepare for the championship game.
“When I went back to the field, I grabbed a catcher and threw a couple off the mound just to make sure my arm hadn’t tightened up. I looked at the coach and said, “If you need me at some point tonight, I’m good to go.”
An early scoring burst and stellar starting pitching powered Charlottetown to an 8-1 win over Quebec, and its first Canadian senior men’s title. It gave Dow a chance to relax, enjoy, and reflect from the dugout.
As he watched his new teammates flood toward the pitcher’s mound to celebrate, he took a moment to recall a conference championship run in his second year in Missouri.
“Getting the win in the conference championship was an unbelievable feeling. I was one of the first guys in the dog pile after we won the championship,” he said.
“But this time, going with P.E.I., representing New Brunswick, but not with the team I play for, I wanted them to enjoy that more. That was their team and their championship. As much as I was a part of that, I kind of purposely was late getting over the railing. I was in the back half getting into the pile.
“They are a really close-knit group of guys, and getting to watch them celebrate was incredible. It was really cool to see it from an outside view but still be a part of it,” said Dow, who was named the tournament’s top defensive player.
Fredericton’s Grant won the offensive player honours.
With a successful NCAA career, national championship, and multiple NBSBL awards in the rearview, Dow now has his mind set on helping the Alpines as they await the start of the second round of the league playoffs.
The 13-15 Alpines are tentatively set to travel to Chatham on Thursday to take on the 18-10 Ironmen in a battle of second and third-place regular-season finishers. Game dates are dependent on the completion of the best-of-three play-in series between the Moncton Mets and Fredericton Royals, both with 10-18 regular-season records. Game 1 is set for Sunday in Moncton, with Game 2 going on Monday in Fredericton. Game 3, if needed, is slated for Wednesday in the Hub City.
The 19-9 Islanders await the winner of the Mets-Royals series.
Saint John head coach Trevor Beach said Dow will be a key player as Saint John begins its playoff run.
“He’s going to be the backbone of our team,” Beach said. “As long as he’s feeling up to it, he’ll be the number one guy we go to whenever we need him.
“He’s an incredible teammate. The boys love him. He always wants the ball. He’s also the ultimate competitor. If he’s not pitching, he wants to be hitting, be in the field. You can’t beat his drive.”
Dow said he would love to return to the national baseball stage in Chatham, the host of the 2026 national championship. But there is work ahead.
“We’re pretty solid. As long as we do our jobs defensively and offensively and the pitchers throw well, we’ve got a good shot of getting through and going to the final and hopefully representing New Brunswick at the nationals next year,” he said.
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